Honolulu Academy of Arts: Member Appreciation Night

I don't remember the HAA ever doing a Member Appreciation Night before . . . not saying they haven't, just saying I don't remember it!  Trish was game for an event featured a $35 prix fixe menu at the Pavilion Cafe and "art projects in the courtyard."  She also thought I might be intrigued by the "Men in Lace" exhibit, but, alas, we didn't have time.  Some other day perhaps, since I do want to see  "William Blake's Illustrations of the Book of Job."

Walking in to the Academy, there was, sure enough, art projects in the courtyard.  The Hot Club of Hulaville was onstage, playing jazz and Hawaiian jump swing.  Very cool.  We'd have to come back though, because we had dinner reservations for 6:45.

The dinner was a three course prix fixe and so the plan was to coordinate our choices to get six different courses and then split them.  So we end up with basically a six course tasting menu!  :)   We got everything except for one of the entree choices:   Grilled Mahi Mahi with Tomato-Basil Concasse, Herbed Couscous and Seasonal Vegetables.  I think it sounds great, but it lost out to the other entree choices.  (Sidebar:  Didn't know what a concasse was, so looked it up.  It's a mixture that is coarsely ground or chopped.  So every time I prep vegetables, I end up making a concasse . . . who knew?)

First appetizer course was the Kabocha Pumpkin Soup with Creme Fraiche.  It was a really beautifully done soup, rich, with trace of asian spice.  And served hot!  I don't understand why restaurants don't serve soups hot . . . if it's because they're afraid of lawsuits from clumsy people who might spill it on themselves, well, c'mon, it's not like we're in a McDonald's drive thru!

Next, we had the Warm Goat Cheese and Pear salad.  Trish and I were talking about food blogging at the time, and I was saying, "There's other blogs written by people who can just dissect their food and describe it as if they've swallowed a thesaurus.  But me, I can't even tell you what these salad greens are!"

I can say, though, that I like goat cheese, but pears, not so much.  Nice little salad, and it was good to have some greens before we started in on the richer fare for entrees.

First entree was Herbes de Provence Marinated Leg of Lamb with Polenta and Seasonal Vegetables.  Basically, three pieces of lamb, mildly seasoned, seared with some char (love it!).  Over couscous and with some julienned vegetables (not a concasse, hehe!).

Linguini (sic) with Housemade Sausage, Pancetta, Egg and  Reggiano Cheese.  It's quibbling, but the pasta is penne, not linguine.  Don't know the reason for the change, but it may have worked out for the best.  The penne is easy to handle and the ridges hold the sauce.  Linguine noodles would be a little more difficult to maneuver.  In terms of flavor, this is basically a carbonara with sausage and easy on the black pepper and cream.  It's comfort food, with the salty meat and egg and cheese.  So comforting that it almost wiped us out before dessert!

But it didn't!  This is the Apple-Blueberry Crisp with Vanilla Bean Gelato.  I'm pretty sure this is a regular menu item for the Cafe, but I didn't mind since it's my favorite dessert combination:  apple pastry/pie, with vanilla ice cream/gelato.    Conveniently, Trish preferred the other dessert, which was . . .

Chocolate Pot de Creme!  Funny, a pot de creme is more of a custard, but this was like a rich, dark chocolate, mousse, so thick it bordered on fudge.  In fact, it looked a lot like chocolate frosting!

Here's a (not very good) pic of the chocolate, but you get the idea . . . :

After dinner, we made clay animals . . . that was the art project in the courtyard!  Crazy . . . all these nicely dressed people playing with clay . . . it was hilarious!

After an interesting process of discovery, Trish came out with a Schnauzer!  The pieces will be fired and we can pick them later this week.

By the time we finished playing with the clay, it was after nine.  The event was supposed to close at 8:30, but someone must have miscalculated how engrossing clay play would be.

On the way out, we were asked to sign up for e-mail newsletters and, just for signing up, we got a neat coffee table art book ("Literati Modern: Bunjinga from Late Edo to Twentienth-Century Japan") and a postcard collection ("The Dragon's Gift").  The postcards were from a show of Buddhist art from Bhutan that ran at the Academy in early 2008 that we were lucky enough to see.  So it kind of brought home the whole point of membership.  It was a great night . . . hope they do it again!  But if not, there's always "Joy of Sake 2011" in August!